


Operation Romeo Alpha

by DoctorSyntax



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen, Literally Every Character Is Gay, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-03-06
Packaged: 2018-05-25 00:28:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6172846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorSyntax/pseuds/DoctorSyntax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the first day of the fall semester. The dorm is (probably) haunted, RA Kathleen and RA Jody are getting along like a house on fire, and long-suffering RA Victor doesn't believe in ghosts and doesn't know why he's friends with either of these idiots.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Operation Romeo Alpha

"Operation Romeo Alpha, Fall 2007?" Kathleen waves a piece of paper in Victor's face as he returns from rounds. "What is this?"

Victor snatches the paper away from her. "It's my _private_ RA to-do list for the fall semester, Hudak. Meaning it's none of your business."

"You left your binder open on the duty table," Jody points out, cracking her gum. "That makes it free game, so quit your bitching." Victor glares at her. Undeterred, she continues to swing her legs over the side of the table and smirk like it's her job. "Do you do one of those every semester?"

"Yes, not that it's any of your business."

Kathleen and Jody dissolve into giggles at the same time. "Are you kidding?"

From the glare he's shooting their way, clearly he's not. A passing freshman gives them a weird look as he heads down the stairs, haphazard stack of notebooks and shiny-new texts in his hand. Kathleen grins beatifically and gives him a wave as he walks by the RA table that he bemusedly returns.

"You should do one too, Hudak. Bullet point number one: no scaring the fresh meat."

Jody gasps theatrically, drawing both of their attention to her again. "Why, Victor Albert Henriksen. Did I just hear you referring to one of our precious, darling little sheep as _fresh meat_? Did you skip RA sensitivity training this year or are you just that jaded?"

"How is referring to them as sheep any better?" Kathleen points out, and Jody shakes her head with the gravity of a disappointed parent.

"I do it with _love_ ," she emphasizes, drawing circles with her finger on the table she's still sitting atop. "Victor does it because he's hateful."

"I'm not hateful, you just have some freaky affinity for the mom voice," Victor bites back, but he's smiling. "And for the love of God, Jody, my middle name is not Albert."

"Hey!" Jody protests. "My mom voice is super effective."

"Remind me of that next time I have to discipline one of the residents. I'll summon you. _Jody Mills, I choose you!_ Here, just hop inside my Pokeball."

"No way am I getting anywhere near your balls, Henriksen," Jody retorts, narrowing her eyes.

"Like I was going to forget that any time soon, lesbotron," Victor shoots back, and Jody kicks him.

"Seriously, Victor?" she asks, inclining her head toward Kathleen. "Ten minutes into our first night of duty you're already telling the newbie I munch carpet?"

"What, like it isn't obvious?" Victor asks. He pointedly eyeballs Jody's flannel button-down.

"Shut up," Jody mumbles, tugging on the hem of her shirt, and she gets this adorable pink flush all along her cheekbones. Kathleen blinks. "I'm from South Dakota, okay? Sometimes I forget how hot Kansas still is in September."

"Besides," Kathleen puts in, feeling like she should interject at this point, "I kind of already knew."

Both of her older coworkers turn to look at her incredulously. "You did?" Jody asks, and she sounds more surprised than uncertain, which, Kathleen supposes, is good. Jody's biting her bottom lip anyway, and Kathleen briefly entertains a fantasy of kissing that nervous habit away before she answers, shrugging.

"Well, yeah? I did go here last year. And we had that lit class together my first semester, I overheard you mention it once." Kathleen takes a second to rewind that in her head, checking to make sure it sounds plausible. She hasn't even totally convinced herself, so she adds, "And, you know, people talk." There. That sounds a little better. Definitely better than the truth would.

They're both staring at her, though, and don't seem to be entirely convinced. Kathleen squirms a little bit under their unwavering gazes (by their powers combined, they'd be an unstoppable set of Wonder Twins) until Victor finally says, a little thoughtfully, "Huh."

"I guess that makes sense," Jody puts in doubtfully.

"Anyway, it's just as well," Kathleen adds. Maybe if she distracts them they'll stop thinking about it. "To have it all out in the open, I mean. I, uh. I'm gay too. And I figured you guys should know that if we're going to be working together."

Jody bursts out laughing; serious, doubled-over full-body laughs. Victor's laughing too, but not as hard, and one of the residents sticks her head out of the common room to see what's going on.

Kathleen just stares, mortified, mouth slightly agape. What just happened?

"Did you happen to mention that in your RA interview?" Victor asks, still looking more amused than she's ever seen him.

"I, uh… yeah, actually," Kathleen answers, thinking. "In response to a question about how I would handle it if one of my residents came to me with a sexuality crisis. I said I would draw on accepted wisdom and my own coming-out experience to hel…" she trails off, confused. "Victor, why is she still laughing?"

Jody stops giggling immediately and sits up straight, schooling her face into a carefully neutral expression. It lasts all of three seconds before she howls with laughter again, slamming her fist into the table a couple times. "Crowley!" she crows gleefully. "He's behind all of this, sneaky bastard! God damn it! What a _dick_."

"What Jody means," Victor contributes helpfully, "is that the Vice President of Student Affairs has a twisted sense of humor, and probably thought it would be hilarious to put all the gay RAs in the same dorm."

"He's just bitter because he and Dr. Singer being married is the worst-kept secret on campus," Jody puts in, but it barely registers. Kathleen's too busy gaping, looking from Victor to Jody and back again. 

"You're gay too?" she blurts out, much to both of their amusement. Jody looks like she's about to cry, holding her sides from laughing so much already, and Victor has that quietly amused smile Kathleen already adores on his face.

"That is what I was trying to communicate, yes," he answers primly, and Jody nudges him in the shoulder, reaching past him to pick up his RA plan.

"Don't be a dick, she didn't know," Jody tells him, scanning the paper. "Now let's see… week one: introductory meetings, casual conversations with all residents, identify personality types, conflict resolution… Victor, babe, there's nothing on here about promoting the homosexual agenda."

Victor pokes her in the side and steals the paper away from her, frowning. "Operation Romeo Alpha is non-denominational, colorblind, and utterly indifferent to sexuality."

"Why is it even called that?" Kathleen asks, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Romeo Alpha is NATO alphabet code for the letters R and A," Victor explains, like it should be obvious. Kathleen's kind of hurt.

Trust Jody to come to her rescue. "Which went out of style when radios did, numbnuts," she reminds him.

It's Victor's turn to look wounded. "The FBI still uses it."

"Shouldn't that be, 'the Foxtrot Bravo India still uses it'?" Jody mocks, and Kathleen cracks a smile, surprised by the breadth of Jody's knowledge. To be able to figure out the code letters without a second's thought probably means she knows the entire alphabet. To Kathleen Jody adds, "Victor is going to be an FBI agent when he grows up." She manages to say it with all the proud warmth of a mother talking about her wannabe-astronaut toddler.

Victor smacks Jody's thigh with the back of his hand and Kathleen squints, trying to decide if he's blushing. His skin's too dark to tell conclusively, but he does look embarrassed, and aside from being a little bit of a dick, Kathleen likes him, so she throws him a bone.

"Criminal justice major?" she asks, and he nods. If he were anyone else she might think she detects a hint of relief in his face, but she doesn't look too closely for it. "Cool. Me too."

"Yeah?" he asks. "You got Devins yet?"

Kathleen nods. "Yep, and Kelly. Oh, and Ellicott for criminal psych this semester, but I haven't taken that many classes for the major yet."

Victor groans. "Oh, Christ, Ellicott. You're in for a treat." He doesn't elaborate, though, until Kathleen makes a go on motion with her hand. "His dad was some big-shot head of an asylum, used to experiment on his patients. Then one day, they rioted and killed him. Stuffed the body somewhere. He was never found. Ellicott is all _kinds_ of fucked up from it."

 _He was never found_. Victor's casual words stick in her mind, bringing up memories she'd rather ignore. Would Victor think that she, too, is all kinds of fucked up? She hadn't planned on telling them—full disclosure extends to sexuality, but private family crises are something better kept in the closet, with the skeletons. 

Jody's gentle _tsk_ brings Kathleen back to earth. "You always skip the best part of the story, Victor," is her gentle, doting reprimand. She looks up, making sure she has Kathleen's attention. Her eyes are bright and earnest. "See, it wasn't just Ellicott's dad that died. A couple of the patients did too—one of the stories goes that the riot was sparked by Ellicott accidentally killing one of the patients—anyway. The point is that now the asylum is haunted, and if anyone ever steps foot inside, the ghosts of the patients infect them and they go _mad_." She pronounces this like it's supposed to be a revelation. Her smug smile is, unfortunately, extremely becoming.

Victor rolls his eyes—Kathleen gets the idea an age-old argument is about to begin. "Not even an entire day into the semester and she's already broken out the ghost stories. Great move, Victor," he finishes, mostly to himself. Kathleen cracks a grin.

"So I take it you believe in ghosts?" she asks Jody.

"Oh, yeah," Jody nods earnestly. "And time travel, and zombies, and flesh-eating monsters from outer space—" she breaks off, laughing, and Kathleen isn't sure at what until she catches sight of Victor's face. "In fact," Jody adds, eyes sparkling, "this very—"

"Don't," Victor bites out. "Do not even say it, Mills, there are impressionable young freshman within earshot and I'm not letting you spread lies and misinformation among them."

"But—" Jody begins.

"No buts!" Victor commands, covering Jody's face with his hand. "Nobody has asked me about that stupid story all year and I would _really_ like to make it through an entire semester without dealing with all that bullshit."

"It's only the first day," Jody observes, voice muffled by Victor's hand, which she promptly licks. He pulls away in disgust, then wipes his hand on Jody's sleeve. Oblivious or just perhaps not caring, Jody continues, "They haven't had time to learn it from the upperclassmen yet. I give it twenty-four hours."

"Then let me enjoy that twenty-four hours, Jody, please."

"Suit yourself," she shrugs. "It's going to happen whether or not I kickstart the process. You're just prolonging the agony."

"Shut up," he answers, closing his eyes and leaning back in his chair. "I can't hear you over the sound of how content I am."

Jody kicks his armchair, but then throws a look over her shoulder at Kathleen, mouthing, _My room, tonight_. Kathleen just nods. Then Jody holds a finger to her lips, leaning forward and reaching out toward Victor, whose eyes are still closed. Kathleen isn't sure what Jody's about to do, but it's probably going to be funny, so she keeps her mouth shut and watches.

One beautifully-executed purple nurple later, Victor is letting out a surprised yell and practically falling out of his chair, and Jody's laughing again.

Kathleen has a feeling she's going to enjoy the year. Two of the girls assigned to Moore Hall had taken Kathleen aside in training and told her story after story of Victor and Jody terrorizing students (and each other). They're legendary, apparently, among all their former residents—she's beginning to see why.

"What the _fuck_ , Mills," Victor splutters. "Go do a round or something."

Jody just grins. "I'm not actually on duty, remember? Just hanging out to make sure you're not a big bag of dicks to Kat on her first night."

"Then go _take_ Kat on a round, show her how it's done." He rubs the base of his hand against his chest. "That hurt, by the way."

Jody pouts at him. "Aww, does someone need mommy to kiss it better?" she coos, reaching out, and Victor shoves her grabby hands away.

"Get off me, you spaz. Go take Kat on rounds."

Jody hops off the table and clicks her heels together, saluting ramrod-straight. "Sir, yes, sir, Agent Foxtrot, sir!" At Victor's exasperated eyeroll, she winks at Kathleen. "Come on, newbie. Let momma show you how it's done."

*

Jody waits until they've swept the first floor and are heading up the back staircase to the second before she nudges Kathleen's shoulder. "Hey. So."

Kathleen's not totally sure where she's going with this. "Hey?" she tries. Then: "Oh. Victor."

Jody grins so happily Kathleen might have thought she were drunk, if she didn't know better. "Yeah, Victor. What a dick," she says fondly. 

Kathleen hums in agreement, not sure what else to say. She waits for a minute while Jody stops at an open door and knocks softly. "Hey guys." As if sensing Kathleen's reluctance, she glances over her shoulder and gestures Kathleen over.

There are two girls inside the room, a tiny brunette and slim redhead. They're both pretty gorgeous, and apparently already fast friends, if the way they're sitting on one bed, conferring intensely, is anything to go by. They look up at Jody and the redhead smiles. The brunette tries, but it ends up more of an amused smirk.

"I just wanted to introduce myself," Jody begins, and it's clearly a familiar speech, but she doesn't make it sound like it was pre-written. Kathleen knows from experience that it isn't, anyway. "I'm Jody, the second floor RA. That means if you have any problems, I'm supposed to be the one to deal with them. I have an open-door policy, which means if you need me you can come right to my room, any time, unless there's a tie on the doorknob, which I hope I don't need to explain to you…" she pauses, eyeing the girls meaningfully. Redhead giggles and brunette even cracks a smile. Jody waves toward Kathleen. "And this is Kat, the third floor RA." Kathleen waves, a little awkwardly, trying a smile. "If you don't want to talk to me for whatever reason, you can always go to Kat, or to Victor. He's down on the first floor."

"Hi, guys," Kathleen says lamely, not sure what else to add.

"Hi," the redhead says. "I'm Anna and this is Ruby."

Jody looks surprised, and leans back to crane her head around the door. "The door decs say Anna and Joanna." Even as she says it, she winces. "God, who thought that was a good idea?"

"Crowley," Kathleen ventures, quietly, and Jody bursts out laughing. The girls in the room eye them both a little warily.

"Jo's out," Anna answers. "I think she's at work? Her mom owns a bar a couple blocks over."

"I live on the third floor," Ruby offers, the first thing she's said since they stopped at the door. She smiles at Kathleen, who's vaguely reminded of a predator eyeing the weakest of the herd. It's not a pretty mental image. "Anna and I go way back." The way she says it there's clearly supposed to be subtext, but Kathleen's not totally sure what that subtext is. Her first guess is that they go way back _in a gay way_ , but she's probably biased or something. Viewing it all through rainbow-colored lenses or something.

Anna rolls her eyes and mimes smacking Ruby upside the head, which, after she ducks, makes Ruby grin so hard it looks like it might actually hurt.

Huh. Maybe Kathleen's right after all.

"What Ruby _means_ to say," Anna explains, "is that we're, you know, together." She puts her hand in Ruby's, though whether she's trying to underline the point or she's nervous and needs a little moral support, Kathleen's not sure. Ruby dares them with her eyes to say anything, and Kathleen shifts a little under the intense gaze, wondering if—

Thank god for Jody. "Oh," Jody says, and appears to be completely and totally unfazed. Like residents come out to her all the time. As soon as she thinks it Kathleen realizes, well, yeah, that's probably actually true. "And you came to school together? What good luck you ended up in the same dorm."

Anna's smile is more than just a little grateful, with some obvious relief thrown in there. "Yeah. We tried signing up to room together, but I guess that wasn't in the cards."

"Still, same dorm is nice," Jody puts in. "Trust me, when winter comes around you're going to be real glad you don't have to trek across campus to hang out with your girlfriend." She glances over at Kathleen. "Well, it was nice meeting you girls, but we have to get back to rounds. Remember: open door policy, and that goes for you too, Ruby, even though you're not on my floor."

"Got it," Anna answers with a genuine smile. "Thanks."

Jody pushes herself off the doorframe and salutes. "You got it. Come on, Kat." Jody takes a whole half a step away before she twists her body back around. "I mean it, girls. Open door policy. If anyone gives you any shit about anything—" the unspoken 'up to and including being gay' hangs in the air between them, but not uncomfortably— "you come straight to me and we'll work it out."

"Really, thank you," Ruby says. She means it, but it's also clearly the end of the conversation. She's still holding Anna's hand.

"It was nice to meet you!" Anna adds brightly.

Jody grins, a little wryly. "Have a nice night, girls."

"Bye," Kathleen adds, feeling like she should say something, and waves. Jody links an arm though hers thoughtlessly and heads down the hall.

"It's a good idea to stop at open doors when you're on rounds," Jody explains in reference to Kathleen's unasked question. "A lot of times, especially in the freshman dorms, people prop their doors open because they're open to company. Sometimes they're lonely. So if you pass one, just pop your head in, say hi, make sure everything's going good with them. You know, school, friends, dating, whatever. You can't know what's going on with your residents if you don't talk to them."

"Makes sense," Kathleen says, because she feels like she should say something. Jody looks over at her and smiles.

"Don't look so daunted, newbie. It's really not that hard."

"I believe you," Kathleen answers truthfully, tailing Jody up the staircase.

When they push open the door to the third floor corridor, Kathleen can see two open doors and she knows without having to be told that Jody's going to make her introduce herself. Well, again. She met all of the residents briefly at move-in, but there's a good seventy students in the dorm and she can barely remember half the faces, let alone any of the names. 

Sure enough, when the get closer to the first open door Jody nudges her a little. When she catches Kathleen's eye she gestures with her head toward the door. _Go on_ , she mouths.

Kathleen approaches the door with a little bit of nervous trepidation, Jody hanging back watching like a mom whose kid just put on their training wheels: ready to jump in and catch her if she falls, but confident she won't.

Kathleen raps her knuckles lightly on the open door and peeks her head in. "Hello?" She glances at the names on the door. Ruby and Fiona. 

A girl's head pops around the corner, followed by a body. "Hey!" she says. "You're one of the RAs, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Kathleen answers, a little surprised. "I'm Kathleen—Kat. I'm the RA on this floor." She racks her brain trying to think of what Jody said. "I just wanted to say hi, and let you know if you ever need anything, you can always stop by to talk to me. No judgments, no advice if you don't want it, just a friendly ear."

"Great, thank you!" Fiona says, tucking a loose strand of dark brow hair behind her ear. "I'm Fiona, but everyone calls me Fi." She extends a hand, which, when Kathleen shakes, is warm and strong.

"Nice to meet you, Fi." She jerks a thumb over her shoulder. "Behind me here is Jody, she's the RA on the second floor."

Fi peeks around her and grins, waving. Kathleen doesn't look behind, but she's sure Jody waves back.

"We're going to get back to rounds," Kathleen says, a little lamely, because she's already run out of things to say. Maybe she's not cut out for this RA thing. "But it was nice to meet you. If you need anything, just let one of us know, okay?"

"Yeah, sure thing," Fi says. "See you around."

It's only when Kathleen falls back into step with Jody she realizes how hard her heart is pounding. Christ.

"That was good," Jody tells her quietly, and though Kathleen smiles gratefully her heart rate doesn't slow down any faster. Oh, jesus, and there's another open door to get through. It's all the way at the end of the hall, though, so she's got tons of time to panic.

Her footsteps slow down as they get closer to the open door and Jody unsubtly shoves her in the general direction of her impending doom, but doesn't say anything.

"Hello?" Kathleen asks, knocking on the door. Se doesn't need to look at the door decs to know they say Charley and Sarah B. She made them last week. There's no answer. She sticks her head a little further into the room, but there's nobody in there. She glances back at Jody, unsure. "Nobody's here."

Jody rolls her eyes. "Great, so we already have to include the 'lock your door if you leave the room, dumbasses' speech into the floor meeting. There's one _every_ year."

"Maybe they just ran down to the vending machine or something," she tries. She's not sure why she's defending them.

Jody sticks her head into the room and takes a look around. "Well, if they did, they're idiots. She gestures toward one of the desks. "A computer like that, you don't want to just leave alone with the door hanging open." She sighs, gesturing. "Go on, close the door. It's not going to lock, but at least it's not going to hang wide open while they're gone."

Kathleen shuts the door and Jody grabs their whiteboard pen, leaving them a message that reads, _RA Jody was here!_ ☺

"Brace yourself," Jody says to Kathleen as they head down the back staircase. "One of them's probably going to come down tonight and ask us why we closed their door."

"You put your name, though," Kathleen points out, grinning. "So I'm going to play stupid, and let them bitch at you."

Jody looks surprised for a second, then cracks a smile and claps Kathleen on the back. "I like you, Kitty Kat. You're going to do just fine."

Kathleen doesn't say anything, but she's sure her blush says it all anyway.

"Oh, so before we get back," Jody says, slowing and then stopping on the second floor landing. "I wanted to tell you that story Victor doesn't want me telling."

"Oh!" Kathleen had completely forgotten. She glances around at the empty, echoing stairwell. "Here?"

"Oh yeah," Jody grins. "Definitely here. Better atmosphere."

Kathleen begins to catch on. She thinks. "Is this a ghost story?" she accuses warily.

"Oh, absolutely," Jody beams. She's like a little kid again, radiating excitement that spills out of her and fills the air around them. "Do you still want to hear it?"

Kathleen leans back against the railing, crossing her legs in front of her. "You know I do."

"Ok, well," Jody begins. "You know how there's a fourth floor but no residents on it?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, it's _not_ because this building is hella old and that floor isn't up to code, like they told you at RA orientation."

"Let me guess," Kathleen says. "Someone killed themselves by jumping out the window and now the hall is haunted?" It seems like the most logical guess. She doesn't have anything to go by—hasn't heard anything about this ghost before tonight—but every college campus in America has a story like that, so it seems like a safe bet.

Jody deflates slightly. "No. Well, sort of." She bites her lip, and Kathleen feels kind of bad that she has apparently dampened Jody's enthusiasm.

"Sorry," she apologizes. "I really do want to know."

Jody takes the encouragement at face value. "It wasn't a suicide, it was murder. Or so the story goes. There was this girl—some stories say her name's Mary, others say it was Jess—and—" she glances around like there could possibly be anyone around to overhear them, then leans in and drops her voice slumber-party-scary-story-telling low. "And she _burned_ to death one night."

Kathleen raises an eyebrow, because seriously, what? "How?"

Jody shrugs. "Nobody knows. But as the story goes, she was all alone one night, and when her roommate came back she found Mary/Jess/whoever pinned to the ceiling by some supernatural force, and she was bleeding. You know," Jody gestures vaguely toward her abdomen, "like, _dripping_ —no, _gushing_ blood—all over the floor. And then…" Jody takes a deep breath before declaring, "she spontaneously burst into flame."

"And the roommate escaped and the hall didn't burn down, but Mary-Jess-whoever died, and now she haunts the building," Kathleen finishes, and she's trying not to laugh. Jody looks like she's valiantly trying not to let her feelings be hurt.

"So the story goes, anyway," she says, almost defensively. "And really, who are we to argue with urban legends?"

"I am not a brave enough girl," Kathleen replies solemnly, stifling the urge to giggle. It's cute how involved Jody gets with stories like this. Endearing. She may not believe the story, but she believes that Jody believes, and that's enough. "Come on, Victor's going to wonder where we got off to."

"We can tell him we were banging in the supply closet," Jody volunteers, falling into step as Kathleen heads down the stairs. "He'd probably believe it, because he has a dirty mind."

Kathleen tries to ignore the sharp tug of want that pulls at her gut, and tries to distract herself from the very appealing mental image Jody's words create. "So have you ever seen her?" she asks, trying to change the subject. "Mary/Jess/whoever."

"We should really pick one name," Jody says. "But, you know. I have, I think," she starts carefully, not really meeting Kathleen's eyes. She pushes open the stairwell door, leading Kathleen down the first floor hallway back toward the entryway and the duty table, and Victor. "Doing rounds one night. She was blonde, wearing a pretty white dress. I thought I saw her reflection in one of the glass display cases on the third floor, right by the main stairs to the fourth floor. You know, the ones that are roped off?" Jody slows down, because they're nearly back to Victor at this point. "When I turned around," she finishes quietly, "nobody was there. But it could have just been my mind playing tricks on me."

And then Victor's within in earshot and Kathleen knows to drop the subject. 

"What happened?" Victor calls. "Took you long enough."

"We came across a couple open doors, so we stopped to say hi," Jody explains, hopping back up on the table, because apparently it's easier than getting a third chair from the common room. Kathleen drops into her chair and Victor glances over at her.

"How'd it go?" he asks. He's looking at Kathleen, but she's not sure he's talking to her.

"She's great," Jody puts in. "A natural."

"Please," Kathleen dismisses, blushing a little from the praise. "You held my hand the whole time."

"No, you were good!" Jody protests. "For your first night, you did great."

"Yeah, because I knew you would back me up if I screwed up. I'm not looking forward to doing all of this on my own."

"So I'll stick with you until you're confident you've got it down," Jody shrugs, like it's no big deal. "It'll be fun! You can be like, my little deputy."

"Does that make you sheriff of Ilchester Hall?"

"Yep." She cracks her gum again. Her smile is infectious. "Oh, hey," Jody adds to Victor, like it's just occurred to her. "Charley and/or Sarah from the third floor might be stopping by. They left their door open so I closed it and wrote them a note."

Victor makes a face. "Seriously? It's the _first day_."

"Freshmen are idiots," Jody points out. She glances over at Kathleen. "No, really, they're morons. Be prepared for alllll kinds of stupidity."

"Freshmen are idiots," Kathleen parrots dutifully, even if she's not entirely convinced. "Gotcha."

Jody ruffles her hair with casual affection. "Good girl," she says. _Mom voice_ , Kathleen reminds herself, and ignores the warmth suffusing through her body.

It's going to be a long year.


End file.
